Sunday, March 27, 2005

Saw Lawrence Leung and Andrew McClelland's Somewhat Secret Secret Society Show tonight. It was very funny of course, and very them. Anyway, Mel, did you by any chance tell Andrew about the origin of "the third degree"? I'm just curious, because he's used it in a joke... well, in a joke within a joke. See, the joke is that Andrew's punchlines draw on material that's too 'obscure' for people to actually 'get', and so Lawrence is able to gong him when he tells jokes that require obscure knowledge. And then Andrew tells a joke by way of example. And in that joke he uses that stuff you told me about the Freemasons and the third degree initiation, you know, back when I went to meet you at that sea-shanty choir thing that Andrew organised, except I went to the wrong place first and then you had to tell me that we were meeting at a pub called the Town Hall, not at the actual Town Hall. Anyway, because you, Mel, told me about the origin of the saying "the third degree" that day, I was able to 'get' Andrew's 'obscure' joke tonight. So I'm just wondering if you might in fact be the source for both me and him in this instance.